Do You Remember Me?
by icameheretowinry
Summary: This is a short, multi-chapter fic about what thoughts and memories goes through Roy's head when he meets Riza on the front in Ishval.
1. Chapter 1

"I'll be happy if I never see another grain of sand in my entire life."

Roy glanced over as Maes let a handful of the pale, dusty earth rush between his fingers.

"It gets into every nook and cranny. Your boots. Your eyes. Your hair. It's all I've been tasting for weeks!" said Maes with a frown, his emerald eyes fixed menacingly to the ground.

Roy said nothing. He swallowed hard as a strange acidity bloomed in his chest. The sand was the least of his grievances. It was the _smell_ of the place. That sickly sweet tint to the air that he swore blackened his lungs with every breath. Maes turned towards his friend.

"What's with you?" he asked as he gave Roy a friendly jab on the arm, "Is it because you can't look forward to receiving a letter from a girl?"

Maes gazed wistfully into the distance.

"A girl as wonderful and perfect as my dear Gracia?!"

Roy continued to stare at the ground, when suddenly, a foreign shadow invaded his field of vision. He looked up. A solider of rather petit stature slowly approached them; their face obscured by the hood of the tan, military issue overcoat. A sniper rifle was balanced precariously on their shoulder. After coming to a rest a few feet from where Roy and Maes stood, they reached up and let the hood fall away.

"Hello, Mustang. Do you remember me?"

Roy's breath caught in his throat as he regarded the girl in front of him. Her short flaxen hair quivered gently in the desert breeze. He knew it was her. Like the sand, the war seeped its way into every life it touched, and smothered the light in her eyes.

"Do you?" asked Riza, her gaze burning into his soul.

How different things used to be.


	2. Chapter 2

He remembered the way she looked at him during his last night at the Hawkeye house. The soft glow of the light under the door to her father's study was permanently extinguished. She shifted uneasily in lumpy green armchair closest to the parlor fireplace, the fabric of the plain black dress she wore to the cemetery spilled gently across her bare legs. The cup of tea perched on a nearby table had long since gone cold.

Roy knocked softly on the parlor door. Her expression lit up as he entered. She hadn't cried. How could she? How can anyone be expected to truly mourn the loss of a stranger?

"You're still here?" Riza exclaimed, "I thought your train left already."

"I rescheduled my ticket," he explained, "I didn't think leaving so soon after what happened would be right."

He quickly glanced towards the window as a small smile blossomed on Riza's lips.

"That's incredibly kind of you, Roy," she said.

Roy lowered himself into an equally lumpy blue armchair across from her. The room grew darker as the afternoon began to fade away. Riza shifted again in her seat.

"You know," she began, "I'm leaving tomorrow myself."

Roy frowned, "Why? You never spoke of it before."

Riza gestured around the dilapidated parlor.

"There's nothing here for me now. There hardly ever was," she explained, "It's time I decided for myself what I do and where I go. If you truly believe what you said earlier, I believe it too. There's people to help, and so many things to see. Staying here will only turn me into him. Just because he was my father doesn't mean I'm obligated to be like him. Leaving this place behind is the first step to make sure that doesn't happen."

Roy nodded and shifted his gaze the wall of dusty volumes of alchemic studies that lined the parlor's back wall. This life was never something she asked for.

"Where will you go?" he asked.

Riza raised her eyebrows, "I thought you would tell me it was a terrible idea?"

Roy grinned and shook his head, "In all honesty, it doesn't surprise me at all."

Riza laughed softly. It reminded him of birdsong.

"I'm going to Central."

Riza picked up a small scrap of paper on the small table near to the long-forgotten cup of tea and held it out.

"Here's my address," she said, "I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do, but write me, will you?"

Roy took the paper and quickly stuffed it into his pocket.

"Oh! Uh… Of course!" he mumbled.

A small blush spread across Riza's cheeks, "I look forward to it!"


	3. Chapter 3

Roy couldn't count how many letters he started and never finished. The words never quite seemed right. He thought about her often during training. What was she doing? Who had she met? Was she okay? Yet, he couldn't bring himself to ask. Perhaps he was still baffled by her belief in how he viewed the world.

He couldn't forget the spark in her eyes, and how quickly his shame of sharing his goals with her melted. It was a special kind of hope from being born blue.

One day, Maes caught him trying again.

"Who's _that_ for?" he asked, leaning over Roy to read the letter.

Roy instinctively covered the paper with his hands.

"Is it for a girl?" he inquired with a smirk.

Roy relaxed and leaned back in his chair.

"Technically, yes," he said.

"Is she your girlfriend?"

Roy shook his head, "She's… She's something else…"

Maes shrugged in defeat, "Good luck with that, my friend."

Roy said nothing. After Maes left, he crumpled up the paper. Another failure. There were just too many words.

Then, there was Ishval. There was the first time he smelled that smell. There was the first time he recognized the moment that the screaming stopped. There was the moment he watched every word disintegrate to ashes before his eyes. There was no place for a monster in the world of men.


	4. Chapter 4

Riza's gaze was slowly destroying him. She was a soul gone supernova, and threatened to suck him in. He remembered her. He knew her. He couldn't define her. He lost her, and found her. His dream destroyed her, and here she was.

 _Of course I remember you. How could I ever forget you?_

Roy nodded.

"Yes, Cadet."


End file.
